


Sleep In Peace

by DarkmoonSigel



Series: 2014 Advent fics [4]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, advent fic, nagas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-28 04:36:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2718962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkmoonSigel/pseuds/DarkmoonSigel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Advent fic for indestructibleannajay from here and on Tumblr<br/>Fantasty AU with Will as a naga</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep In Peace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Indestructible_L (Anna_Jay)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_Jay/gifts).



> Still taking requests for advent  
> These are meant to be short stories so please quit pointed that out to me. I might write more for them at a later date when I have time.

Hannibal should have known something was wrong with his new Baltimore home. The asking price for a house in the wealthier parts of the city had been far too low. The good doctor presumed the place had a macabre history of some sort, not that he cared about such things. He was actively making his own human horror film, but one usually didn’t suspect a   
legend to rear its heads from the abyss. 

A naga was what was waiting for Hannibal to find when he made the decision to convert his basement into his very own murder workshop. The thing from myth and story had been sealed up in a wall, minding its own business by sleeping away the modern age. When the half serpent, half human uncoiled itself with a low hiss that rattled the human’s bones, Hannibal made a mental note to add the realtor’s business card to the kitchen rolodex.

Understandably, the naga was not pleased about being woken up. The creature had sealed himself up in that damn wall for a reason. The naga expressed this displeasure by trying to kill Hannibal with no questions asked. To its surprise, the human proved himself to be resourceful and quite nimble when he had to be. When all was said and done, Hannibal had fewer antiques to decorate with and some brand new scars to hide under his suits. The naga was sporting a few of his own as well, patches of black opal scales missing here and there from Hannibal’s steel blades.

A truce was called in the kitchen, the bloodied up pair taking a breather to reassess their situation. Introductions were made at long last, the naga’s name unexpectedly being the quite normal title of William or Will for short. Hannibal felt the need to point out that nothing about the naga equated to Asian origin or the cultures which the creatures were usually associated to. Despite his reservations, Will was drawn into a long conversation with the human, the naga feeling the need to educate Hannibal about the worldwide serpentine tribes, his own originally originating from England though the naga himself hailed from Louisiana. 

The tentative truce evolved into observations exchanged over coffee, then arguments over dinner, and finally long winded discourses with tumblers of whiskey in front of the fire later that evening. In the end, Hannibal gained one of the oddest, least expected roommates of his life, Will not caring that he was a cannibal or a serial killer. They both had a lot to lose if either of their secrets got out to the public so secrecy was advantageous to their agendas.  
The pair settled into a routine fairly quickly. Will had run of the house during the day though he mostly chose to stay in the basement while the good doctor was at his office. Hannibal found he enjoyed having someone else to cook his preferred meat of choice on a regular basis. The naga didn’t have to eat as often as a human, but Will always made it a point to join Hannibal for coffee in the morning and dinner in the evening. 

Their easy friendship shifted into something far different though when the winter months brought cold and snow to Baltimore. Unlike their smaller brethren, nagas didn’t need to hibernate but Hannibal observed that Will moved in a more lethargic manner now, the man often finding the naga curled up in front of the fire or by any heat source. Preheating the oven meant Hannibal have to make dinner around a napping naga who cuddled up against the warming stainless steel like it was the softest bedding.  
Long December nights were the pair’s undoing, the chill of the season settling into the foundation’s stone. Though he tended to sleep well, Hannibal was a cautious sleeper. He had long ago memorized the natural sounds of the house, the creaks and groans of a building going to sleep, so Hannibal woke quickly when something catching his ear didn’t quite place. The dry rustling sounds of scales moving over hardwood would have been missed by others, too soft to be noticed most of the time. In the AM though, it might as well been an alarm to someone like him. 

Getting up to investigate, Hannibal was surprised but not alarmed to find Will wandering the hallways. The naga’s eyes told a different story from his state of mind though, Will’s gaze unfocused and devoid of emotion. It took Hannibal only a moment to ascertain that the naga was sleepwalking, or more accurately, sleepcrawling. While Hannibal debated internally what to do about this fascinating situation, Will unconsciously made the decision for them, the naga striking like the serpent it partly was.  
Instead of the naga’s retractable fangs being sunk into his flesh, Hannibal found himself wrapped up in coiled lengths of scaled strength, Will curling the length of his body around Hannibal’s own much like a boa constrictor but without all the fatal suffocation. Though bound, Hannibal found he could comfortably breathe though moving around wasn’t much of an option for him at the moment. To make matters even more complicated, it was obvious that Will had fallen into a deeper sort of sleep, the naga’s eyes closed now. They stayed like this until morning, the need for coffee rousing Will from his slumber to find a stoic human in his clutches. 

Will apologized over protein scramble and espresso though Hannibal appeared no worse for wear. The impromptu sleeping arrangement had been different but surprisingly comfortable. Waving off Will’s concerns, Hannibal dismissed the notion of Will going back to his deeper sleep for the rest of winter when the naga brought it up as an option, much like the one he had been in when Hannibal found him. The cannibal had come to value the naga’s unusual company and the thought of Will removing himself from his life even for a little while was unacceptable. Plus Hannibal could not fault Will for following his inborn nature. If anything he was intrigued by it. 

Which was why Hannibal turned off the heating that night and hoarded every down blanket he owned in his bed, making his body the only thing producing any real heat in the house. It came as no surprise to him when Hannibal once again heard scales on hardwood coming in the direction of his bedroom. His door was left open, allowing the naga to enter easily enough, Will’s pale torso gleaming ghostlike in the dark and his moving scales like jeweled pools that absorbed and reflected any light they could. Hannibal threw back the nest he had created, feeling his heat leave him in a wave, and the naga responding to it by tasting air. Will’s forked tongue flicked in and out of his mouth, doing the searching for him, his strange eyes as unfocused as the night before.

It didn’t take any other coaxing to bring the naga to his bed, Hannibal once again the center of Will’s being, the creature’s world narrowed down to one of heat and comfort. There would be more talk of this in the morning, Will wanting to ignore or deny his true nature. Hannibal was confident that in the end Will would accept his lot in life. Hannibal was nothing if not patient and even more so, tenacious. They might not be the same species, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t meant to be together. 

Till death do them part.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Your kudos curl up in front of the fire. Your comments have some weird naga sex with Will.


End file.
